Carolina
First tops $1 billion in private gifts
The Carolina First Campaign
has topped $1 billion in private gifts in the drive to make Carolina the
nation’s leading public university. Chancellor James Moeser announced the
milestone May 23 to the campaign’s 59-member volunteer steering committee.
The campaign goal is $1.8 billion. "One billion dollars is difficult
to comprehend," Moeser said. "It’s important to remember that
this figure represents many gifts from alumni and friends who want to help
Carolina. Every gift to the campaign improves the Carolina experience and
supports the work of a student, professor or program." In the link
above, read more about Carolina First and view a flash movie on its
latest milestone featuring a message from Woody Durham.

Bill
Cosby charms Kenan Commencement crowd
Actor Bill Cosby, donning a Carolina sweatshirt and hat, brought his special
brand of humor to Chapel Hill while speaking passionately about education
during his May 18 Commencement remarks. Cosby went back to college after achieving
much of his professional success to earn M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in education.
Carolina awarded honorary degrees to Cosby; Drew S. Days III, former Solicitor
General of the United States; Reynolds Price, award-winning author and Duke
professor; and C.D. (Dick) Spangler Jr., a Carolina alumnus and president
emeritus of the 16-campus University of North Carolina. About 30,000 graduates,
family members and friends attended the annual Kenan Stadium ceremony. New
to Commencement weekend was the first Graduate School doctoral hooding ceremony
in Polk Place.

Tar
Heel Bus Tour connects new faculty with North CarolinaThirty-two new faculty members and administrators spent a week
in a classroom on wheels to learn about distinctly North Carolina topics ranging
from tobacco to stock car racing to Fort Bragg to an economy in transition
as part of the 2003 Tar Heel Bus Tour. The privately funded tour, begun in
1997, covered more than 1,000 miles from May 19-23 with stops spanning from
Wilmington to Cherokee. New faculty saw first hand where 82 percent of Carolina’s
incoming undergraduates grow up. They learned more about the university’s commitment
to North Carolina and how their research, teaching and public service connects
with the state’s needs.

Students
win distinguished scholarships
Eleven Carolina undergraduates have won prestigious national scholarships
this academic year. In recent weeks, foundations offering some of the most
competitive merit awards in the country have announced winners for 2003. So
far, UNC students have won the following scholarships or fellowships:one Rhodes, one Truman, one Luce, one Churchill, one Udall, three Goldwaters,
two Cookes and one Rieser.

American
Academy of Arts and Sciences inducts three UNC fellows
Two faculty members and Carolina alumnus C.D. (Dick) Spangler Jr. have been
elected fellows of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences in
recognition of "preeminent contributions" in their fields. Faculty
fellows, honored for their contributions in the humanities and arts, are Drs.
Thomas E. Hill Jr., Kenan professor, philosophy, and Alan R. Shapiro, William
Rand Kenan Jr. Distinguished professor, English. Spangler was recognized for
business, corporate and philanthropic leadership.

Welcome
home, Roy!Tar Heel alumnus and North Carolina
native Roy Williams has returned to Chapel Hill to contribute again to Carolina
basketball’s long, proud tradition of excellence. In Williams, Carolina has
attracted the nation’s best coach to lead the program.

Hemocellular Therapeutics, expected to produce the first platelet-based therapeutic
available to doctors for the immediate treatment of active bleeding, has established
an exclusive licensing agreement with Carolina to advance a decade of cutting-edge
research in Chapel Hill and Greenville at East Carolina University.

Carolina ranks 13th
in federal health research funding
Attracting research funds
from the federal government is among the major contributions the university
makes to the North Carolina economy. A new ranking affirms that the Carolina
faculty’s ability to do just that places them among the nation’s best. The
university ranks 13th overall for total funding awarded by the National Institutes
of Health in fiscal 2002 - a 12 percent increase. Carolina is the top public
university in the South and one of only five Southern universities, public
or private, cited in the NIH’s top 20.

DNA
co-discoverer helps Morehead launch new film
Nobel laureate James Watson, who co-discovered the DNA double helix 50 years
ago, visited Chapel Hill to help the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center
premiere “DNA: The Secret of Life.” Carolina was among the partners producing
the film, which chronicles the discovery and delves into genomics. As worldwide
distributor, the Morehead Center is offering the film to museums and science
centers for showings, which are now scheduled in New York City and Cold Spring
Harbor, N.Y., Boston, Chicago, Charlotte and Raleigh, as well as Chapel Hill.

If
you have comments or questions about the online FYI Carolina, contact the
Office of University Communications by e-mail at FYICarolina@unc.edu
or by calling (919) 962-2093.